Plant Select® Petites debuts well-adapted, smaller plants that have not yet been readily available to gardeners. Enjoy these treasures in garden situations where small gem-like but tough plants are best suited: troughs, permanent containers, rock gardens, patio gardens, fairy gardens, green roofs, and smaller gardens.
Clematis scottii
Perennial
Height: 8-15″
Width: 12-18″
Blooms: May-July
Sun: full sun
Soil moisture: moderate to dry
Hardiness: USDA zones 4-7, zone 8 cool-temperate
Culture: any soil, clay tolerant
Native to: southern Rockies
Attracts: bees, bumblebees, sometimes hummingbirds
Long-blooming Scott’s sugarbowls make a mound of blue-green, lacy foliage, topped in late spring and early summer by large, nodding blue flowers. Bees and bumblebees frequent the bell-shaped blossoms. Shimmering golden seed heads follow suit.
Heuchera pulchella
Perennial
Height: 3-8″
Width: 6-10″
Blooms: May-June
Sun: full sun to partial shade
Soil moisture: moderate, tolerates dry shade
Hardiness: USDA zones 4-7, zone 8 cool-temperate
Culture: loamy or sandy soils
Native to: high elevation New Mexico
Attracts: hummingbirds and bees
This miniature, extra cute version of the well-known coralbells makes a tidy evergreen tussock of ruffled fresh green leaves. Spikes of petite rose-pink bells emerge in late spring, attracting hummingbirds and bees.
Primula elatior
Perennial
Height: 10-15″
Width: 12-15″
Blooms: April-May
Sun: partial shade
Soil moisture: moderate to dry
Hardiness: USDA zones 4-8
Culture: any soil, clay-tolerant
Native to: Eurasia
Attracts: bees
This charming but tough primrose is more persistent and tolerates more heat and drought than most of its kin. Clusters of soft yellow flowers, often fragrant, rise above pale green rosettes of foliage in spring. This is the true wild form rarely found in the trade.
